Appliance housing



Filed Jan. 22, 1968 I United States Patent O 3,542,941 APPLIANCE HOUSING Conrad T. Menzel, Milwaukee, Wis., assignor to John Oster Manufacturing Co., Milwaukee, Wis., a corporation of Wisconsin Filed Jan. 22, 1968, Ser. No. 699,538 Int. Cl. Hk 5/00 US. Cl. 174-52 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An appliance housing which is hollow and has a split construction. The housing sections have overlapping walls through which is inserted an element for holding the housing in an assembled relationship. The housing is opened by pushing the element into the interior of the hollow housing.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION For many appliances, the split housing construction is highly advantageous since the housing both encloses the mechanism contained therein and provides a means for conveniently supporting the mechanism. Moreover, the split housing lends itself to expeditious repair work by virtue of the fact that the internal parts are readily accessible to simply removing One section of the housing.

Prior art split housings having two sections are normally held together by means of screws which are inserted into one section of the housing and are anchored in the other section. If for appearance requirements the sight of the screw heads is objectionable, then some covering or hiding means is employed such as plugs, escutcheons, nameplates or the like. These well known expedients are not only expensive but present limiting criteria on the ultimate appearance of the product which appearance can be very important to the saleability thereof. Consequently, it would be highly advantageous for a split housing to be held together by means that do not require the use of screws and said means being inexpensive and not readily discernible. Additionally, this means must permit the the housing to be easily disassembled for repairs.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a hollow, split housing for an appliance wherein the sections of the housing are held together by an element passing through overlapping section walls, and the sections can be separated by pushing the element into the housing so that the element becomes disengaged from the overlapping walls.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a split housing for an appliance wherein the housing sections are held together by means which are not readily discernible and are inexpensive.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent as the following description proceeds, and the features of novelty which characterize the invention will be pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this specification.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING For a better understanding of the present invention, reference may be had to the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an electric massager embodying the present invention and having a portion of the power cord cut away for convenience of illustration;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view taken substan tially on line 2-2 of FIG. 1 with the applicators removed;

FIG. 3 is a sectional View taken substantially on line 3-3 of FIG. 2 with the motor removed, housing sec- 3,542,941 Patented Nov. 24, 1970 DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to the drawing wherein like reference characters designate corresponding parts throughout the several views, there is shown an electrically operated massager generally designated by reference numeral 20. The massager 20 includes a hollow split housing 22 which is formed with a looped handle portion 24. At the front of the housing are spaced openings 26 and 27 through which extend shafts 28 (one of which is shown). Mount able on the shafts 28 are suitable rubber applicators 29 and 30. For controlling the operation of massager 20, there is provided an off-on switch 31. Power for operating the massager is supplied through electrical cord 33. Overall, the massager housing has a somewhat cylindrical configuration with a rounded front end 35 and a looped handle portion 24 at the rear. In operation, the user can actuate switch 31 which causes the applicators 29 and 30, which are preferably formed of rubberlike material, to vibrate.

According to the present invention, the housing 22 is molded from a suitable plastic and comprises two cupshaped sections 38 and 39 which are joined together at their complementary edges 41 and 42, respectively, to form a cavity 44 therebetween. As can be seen in FIGS. 1 and 2, the switch 31 is nested between the housing sections 38 and 39 at the common parting line and is received so that no additional fastening members are required to hold it in its proper operating position. A vibrator motor 46 vibrating shafts 28, shown in FIG. 2, is fastened to partitions 48 which are integrally molded with housing section 38 and the motor held in place by screws 49. With this construction, housing section 39, when removed, exposes and provides ready access to the vibrator motor 46 in its operating position to thus effect expeditious repairs. Conductor means 52 electrically connects the switch 31 with the motor 46 and power supplying cord 33.

In order to lock the housing sections 38 and 39 together, housing section 39 is formed with a plurality of wall portions extending from edge 42 toward section 38, namely, wall portions 54 at the front end 35, Wall portion 55 at the upper interior of the looped handle portion 24, wall portion 56 at the lower front interior of the looped handle portion 24 and wall portion 57 near the point where the power cord 33 emerges from the rear of the housing. These wall portions 54 through 57 extend behind and are contiguous with wall portions 60, 61, 62 and 63 of housing section 38, respectively, which are adjacent to housing edge 41. That is to say, there is an overlapping relationship between wall portions 54 and 60, 55 and 61, 56 and 62 and 57 and 63. This overlapping relationship can be easily seen in FIGS. 2, 4 and 5. It should be noted that when housing sections 38 and 39 are properly assembled together, their complementary edges 41 and 42 are closely abutting each other throughout their length and that the wall portions 54 through 57 and wall portions through '63 are in respective engagement. To hold the housing sections 38 and 39 in closed relationship, each of the overlapping wall portions has a circular aperture 65 through 68 which extends through both housing sections and through which cylindrically-shaped locking elements 70 through 73, respectively, are inserted. As a result, once the elements 70 through 73 have been placed in their respective'apertures, the housing sections 38 and 39 are securely locked together. If for any reason it is desired to separate the housing sections, the elements 70 through 73 are pushed into the housing cavity 44 so that they are no longer in engagement with their respective wall portions whereby the sections are free to easily separate.

To add rigidity to the union between housing section edges 41 and 42, the housing section 38 is molded with an annular rim 75 adjacent to edge 41 which extends in front of and is contiguous with the housing section edge 42. Furthermore, housing section 39 is provided with a plurality of spaced, integral ribs 77 which extend immediately behind and are contiguous with the housing section edge 41 and correspondingly, housing section 38 is provided with similar spaced ribs 78 which are disposed to .be positioned immediately behind housing section edge 42 as illustrated in FIG. 3. The strengthening ribs 77 and 78 are spaced throughout the length of housing section edges 41 and 42.

The recommended assembly technique to lock housing sections 38 and 39 together is to clamp the sections together under tension by the use of a suitable clamping means. After the housing sections are brought together so that edges 41 and 42 abut under tension, the apertures 65 through 68 are formed through their respective wall portions. Once the apertures are formed and before the clamping tension is removed, the elements 70 through 73 are inserted into the apertures 65 through 68 by pushing the elements with a linear force acting lengthwise thereon. That is to say, the elements are pushed into their respective apertures by a linear force exerted at 1 their outer ends and in the same direction as their longitudinal axis. Inasmuch ash is desirable not to make the elements 70 through 73 discernible, these elements are preferably formed from the same plastic material and coloring as used to fabricate housing sections 38 and 39.

To further conceal theelements, they are inserted so that their outer end is flush with the outer surface of the housing section 38. When it is necessary to separate the housing sections, each of the elements 70 through 73 is pushed inwardly until it'drops into the housing cavity 44. To permit element 70 to be'pushed inwardly until it disengages from Wall portion 60 and 54, a clearance hole 79 is defined in structural wall 80 whereby the element 70 can pass therethrough in order to completely disengage from the overlapping wall portions. It should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the present design affords an inexpensive arrangement for assembling a split housing and has the additional advantage of the assembly means not being easily discernible thereby improving the attractiveness of the appliance housing.

While there has been illustrated and described a particular embodiment of the present invention, it will be understood that changes and modifications may occur to those skilled in the art, and it is, therefore, contemplated by the appended claims to cover all such changes and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of plane, one of said sections having at its complementary edge a continuous rim in overlapping position with respect to the outer surface of the other of said sections adjacent said complementary edge, the other of said sections having wall portions which extend from its complementary edge into overlapping engagement with the interior of said one section, at least two aperture means extending through the overlapping walls formed by said wall portions and the adjacent wall portion of said one section into the interior of said hollow housing at opposite sides thereof, and elongated element means capable of being inserted into said aperture means by a linear force acting lengthwise thereon and inserted so that the outer surface of said element means is flush with the outer surface of said one section, said element means holding said sections together under tension and being disengageable from said overlapping walls by pushing said elements completely through said overlapping walls into said housing, said other section being provided with a plurality of ribs extending across the junction of said complementary edges behind and contiguous with said one section. I

2. In the article of claim 1 including a motor nested between said sections within said housing, a control switch supported by said sections at their complementary edges so that a portion of said switch is outwardly exposed.

3. In the article of claim '1 wherein said housing is formed with a looped handle portion, said overlapping walls and element means being disposed on the interior of said looped handle portion.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS D. 187,903 5/1960 McNair et a1. D. 205,747 9/1966 Myers.

2,483,042 9/1949 Frerer 292l37 2,809,631 10/1957 Smith et a1. 128-41 2,957,599 10/1960 Lamb 220--4 3,031,537 4/1962 Rose 174-52 X LEWIS H. MYERS, Primary Examiner D. A. TONE, Assistant Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 128-41; 220-4 

